Hi there, I'm a marketing student researching the effects of recruitment agency branding on competitive advantage. If you are an organisation who is using or looking to use a recruitment agency - your opinion would be much appreciated.My question is...

As a client – how does the branding of a recruitment agency affect your decision whether or not to use them for your recruitment needs?

I disagree 100%. Brand has everything to do with it. Something I've been talking to my wife about lately is Sainsbury's. I "perceive" their food to be of a higher quality than Tesco's. I think this has everything to do with their advertising campaign. I also "assume" that Blue Arrow or Hays (I could name more but those two popped into my head) are two of the best agencies because I've just heard of them more. That may or may not be true but people use what they "perceive" to be the best.

Thanks for the replies. How the brand is perceived is important. There must be a reason behind you choosing one company over the other.... other than simply lower fees, have you heard they have good service, do they work with big names or are specialist in their field? I want to find out what is important to employers.

This is a difficult question. brand always has something to do with it but I'm not exactly sure what it is (from my point of view). I like to use a recruiter that seems to have the authority to make an on-the-spot decision. I always believe I am dealing with the individual rather than the organisation, and I prefer the smaller agencies than the large ones. Some kind of branding that suggests this might work.

That does ring a bell now you remind me. Though the truth is I detest all adverts and will go out of my way to not see any. Everything I watch at home is on the Sky plus so I can fast forward them and if I'm at the cinema alone I'll either listen to my iPod or leave the cinema for five minutes while they're on. I guess that leaves the billboards which I must take in I guess but as I said...hate hate hate!

Sadly I think it's more than just gullible people that get sucked in to advertisements. They seep into our conciousness without us even knowing it. And allegedly we in the west are so "free". What a joke.

If you want something then perhaps an advert may persuade you to buy from a particular firm

True, and the very cleverest marketers / advertisers actually create demand for their products. Apple, Dell for example. Hell, Bernard Matthews (GRHS) has to have done this, how else would turkey drummers become popular?